Friday, April 27, 2012

This all started with a Los Angeles Times story this morning that alleges Darrell Issa has been given the green light by House Speaker John Boehner to issue the long overdue contempt citation for Eric Holder relative to documents the DOJ has been refusing to relinquish. The allegation made by the LA Times is quite specific and includes mention of a 48-page document that is being drafted by Issa's team. Also take note of the reference to John Boehner's involvement.

Republican House leaders have drafted a proposed contempt of Congress citation against Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in which they charge that he and his Justice Department have repeatedly "obstructed and slowed" the Capitol Hill investigation into the ATF's flawed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation.

The 48-page draft citation is being drawn up by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Top committee officials recently met for most of a day in the House speaker's office and were given the green light to proceed toward a contempt citation, according to sources who declined to be identified.

If adopted by the GOP-led House, the contempt resolution would be sent to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington or perhaps an independent counsel in an attempt to force the Justice Department to provide tens of thousands of internal documents to the committee.

If that report is true about Boehner giving Issa "the green light," then that seems to indicate that, to this point, Issa had the red light. Again, whenever the issue came up that Boehner had put the leash on Issa when it came to going after Holder, both camps denied it. If this report is correct, it would seem to indicate that reports of Boehner's involvement in restraining Issa were correct as well.

Here is Issa being interviewed by Fox's Megyn Kelly. Take note that Issa refuses to concede or deny that the Los Angeles Times article is accurate.

Interestingly, this news about Boehner giving the green light to Darrell Issa comes out on the same day the House Speaker went on a righteous rant on the floor of the House. It's ABOUT TIME! A bigger critic of John Boehner you will not find but this was good. My one critique is the word he used at the end of this speech to describe Obama's tactics didn't seem to fit. He angrily referred to those tactics as "silly" and that word didn't quite capture the moment. Otherwise, a good rant.

Is Boehner finally getting fed up? I hope so. I've seen him go off like this before but it always seems to be when he's in the minority and is powerless.